Edge server and method of operating an edge server

ABSTRACT

Example edge serves and communication methods are described. One example edge server is arranged at an edge between a first local area network and a wide area network, wherein the edge server includes a communicator configured to allow communication between devices connected to the first local area network and devices connected to the wide area network. The communicator is further configured to store and process data provided by the first local area network using big data algorithms locally. The edge server further includes an interlinker configured to allow communication between the devices connected to the first local area network and devices connected to a second local area network supported by another edge server, wherein the another edge server is arranged at the edge between the second local area network and the wide area network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/171,328, filed on Oct. 25, 2018, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/EP2016/059183, filed on Apr. 25, 2016,All of the afore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporatedby reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Generally, the present invention relates to communication networks. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to an edge server and amethod of operating an edge server, in particular in an industrialenvironment.

BACKGROUND

The rapidly increasing digitization of economy and society is one of themain driving forces behind recent attempts to combine manufacturing andproduction methods with information and communication technology. In thetradition of the steam engine, the production line, electronics and IT,smart factories are representing the fourth industrial revolution, alsoreferred to as “Industry 4.0”. Just as everyday objects such as mobilephones, cameras, cars, etc. are becoming “smart” and are being networkedinto the global Internet (i.e. the Cloud), a similar development canalso be witnessed inside of factories. Following the paradigm of theInternet of Things (IoT), all the components that make up a productionsystem of a factory, such as robots, machines and sensors, are becomingsmart network nodes that can be easily—and largelyautonomously—integrated into IP-based networks.

However, today's industry and IoT players to-date have no existingsolution for the technical problems they are facing for communicating,managing and bridging different protocols and IoT traffic streams in an“Industry 4.0” environment on a real-time basis with the required degreeof local autonomy that will is required. Moreover, to-date IoT networksrequire a lot of time to configure, re-configure and maintain, oftenmanually.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect the invention relates to an edge server forbeing arranged at the edge between a first local area network and a widearea network. The edge server comprises a communicator configured toallow communication, i.e. provide communication channels, between thenetwork devices of the first local area network and the network devicesof the wide area network, wherein the communicator is further configuredto store and process data provided by the network devices of the firstlocal area network using big data algorithms locally. Moreover, the edgeserver comprises an interlinker configured to allow communicationbetween the network devices of the first local area network and thenetwork devices of a second local area network supported by another edgeserver, wherein the other edge server is arranged at the edge betweenthe second local area network and the wide area network.

The edge server according to the first aspect provides a unifiedgatekeeper of services, such as data traffic, policies and security,which can communicate, for instance, with one or more gateways in theassociated local area network and with applications or servicesprovided, for instance, by application servers in the wide area network,thereby reducing the complexity of communication networks.

In a first possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe first aspect as such, the communicator is further configured toforward request information to a cloud-based gateway.

In a second possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe first implementation form of the first aspect, the communicator isconfigured to forward request information to the cloud-based gateway onthe basis of an Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) and/or MessageQueuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol.

In a third possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe first aspect as such or the first or second implementation formthereof, the interlinker is configured to allow secure communicationbetween the first local area network and the second local area network.

In a fourth possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe first aspect as such or any one of the first to third implementationform thereof, the edge server further comprises a network functionsvirtualizer configured to provide virtualized network functions to thefirst local area network.

In a fifth possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe fourth implementation form of the first aspect, the networkfunctions virtualizer is configured to provide virtualized networkfunctions in response to the triggering of a “one-click” servicecreation function provided by a graphical user interface.

In a sixth possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe first aspect as such or any one of the first to fifth implementationform thereof, the edge server further comprises a software definednetworking (SDN) controller configured to provide SDN functions to thefirst local area network.

In a seventh possible implementation form of the edge server accordingto the sixth implementation form of the first aspect, the SDN controlleris configured to manage at least one gateway of the first local areanetwork.

In an eighth possible implementation form of the edge server accordingto the seventh implementation form of the first aspect, the SDNcontroller is configured to manage the at least one gateway of the firstlocal area network in case the at least one gateway cannot be controlledby a SDN controller of the wide area network.

In a ninth possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe first aspect as such or any one of the first to eighthimplementation form thereof, the edge server is configured tocommunicate with the first local area network via a gateway.

In a tenth possible implementation form of the edge server according tothe ninth implementation form of the first aspect, the gateway is anOPC-UA (open platform communications—unified architecture) compliantgateway.

In an eleventh possible implementation form of the edge server accordingto the first aspect as such or any one of the first to tenthimplementation form thereof, the edge server is configured to provide agraphical user interface for allowing a user to interact with the edgeserver.

According to a second aspect the invention relates to a method ofoperating an edge server at the edge between a first local area networkand a wide area network, wherein the method comprises: allowingcommunication between the network devices of the first local areanetwork and the network devices of the wide area network, includingstoring and processing data provided by the network devices of the firstlocal area network using big data algorithms by the edge server; andallowing communication between the network devices of the first localarea network and the network devices of a second local area networksupported by another edge server, wherein the other edge server isarranged at the edge between the second local area network and the widearea network.

The method according to the second aspect of the invention can beperformed by the edge server according to the first aspect of theinvention. Further features of the method according to the second aspectof the invention result directly from the functionality of the edgeserver according to the first aspect of the invention and its differentimplementation forms.

According to a third aspect the invention relates to a computer programcomprising program code for performing the method according to thesecond aspect of the invention when executed on a computer.

According to a fourth aspect the invention relates to a networkcomprising the local area network, the wide area network and the edgeserver according to the first aspect of the invention.

The invention can be implemented in hardware and/or software.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further embodiments of the invention will be described with respect tothe following figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a communication networkincluding an edge server according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating different aspects of acommunication network and an edge server according to an embodimentwithin an interlinking environment;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the hardware and softwarearchitecture of an edge server according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating different aspects of acommunication network and an edge server according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram illustrating different aspects of acommunication network and an edge server according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating different aspects of acommunication network and an edge server according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram illustrating different aspects of acommunication network and an edge server according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram illustrating different aspects of acommunication network and an edge server according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the steps of a method foroperating an edge server according to an embodiment.

In the figures, identical reference signs will be used for identical orfunctionally equivalent features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings, which form part of the disclosure, and in which are shown, byway of illustration, specific aspects in which the present invention maybe placed. It will be appreciated that the invention may be placed inother aspects and that structural or logical changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. The following detaileddescription, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, as thescope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

For instance, it will be appreciated that a disclosure in connectionwith a described method will generally also hold true for acorresponding device or system configured to perform the method and viceversa. For example, if a specific method step is described, acorresponding device may include a unit to perform the described methodstep, even if such unit is not explicitly described or illustrated inthe figures.

Moreover, in the following detailed description as well as in theclaims, embodiments with functional blocks or processing units aredescribed, which are connected with each other or exchange signals. Itwill be appreciated that the invention also covers embodiments whichinclude additional functional blocks or processing units that arearranged between the functional blocks or processing units of theembodiments described below.

Finally, it is understood that the features of the various exemplaryaspects described herein may be combined with each other, unlessspecifically noted otherwise.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication network 100according to an embodiment. The communication network 100 comprises afirst local area network 110 a, a second local area network 110 b and awide area network 180. Both the first local area network 110 a and thesecond local area network 110 b can comprise a plurality of networkdevices (also referred to as smart devices) and can be configured aswired and/or wireless LANs. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 the firstlocal area network 110 a comprises by way of example a smart machine 111a and a laptop computer 113 a and the second local area network 110 bcomprises a smart manufacturing site 111 b. In an embodiment, the smartmachine 111 a and/or the smart manufacturing site 111 c can, in turn,comprise a plurality of smart actors and/or smart sensors, which for thesake of clarity are not shown in FIG. 1 (but, for instance, in FIGS. 2,5 and 7).

In an embodiment, the wide area network 180 can be the Internet or acloud, such as a private cloud, a public cloud or a hybrid cloud. Thewide area network (also referred to as backend system) 180 can comprisea plurality of different network devices, such as data centers, serverfarms, application servers, files servers, databases and the like. Inthe embodiment shown in FIG. 1 the wide area network 180 comprises, byway of example, an application server 181 and a data center 183.

Moreover, the communication network 100 comprises at the interfacebetween the first local area network 110 a and the wide area network 180as well as at the interface between the second local area network 110 band the wide area network 180 a respective network entity in the form ofan edge server, namely the edge servers 140 a and 140 b, respectively.Physically, the edge server 140 a can be part of the first local areanetwork 110 a or the wide area network 180 and the edge server 140 b canbe part of the second local area network 110 b or the wide area network180.

In the following the edge server 140 a, which is essentially identicalto the edge server 140 b and, thus, can be considered as arepresentative of a plurality of edge servers within the communicationnetwork 100, will be described in more detail. As can be taken from theenlarged view shown in FIG. 1, the edge server 140 a comprises acommunicator 141 a and an interlinker 143 a. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1 the edge server 140 a further comprises a NF virtualizer 145 aand a SDN controller 147 a.

The communicator 141 a of the edge server 140 a is configured to provideunified communications between network devices in the wide area network180, such as the application server 181, which, in an embodiment, canprovide, for instance, applications for big data analysis and predictivemaintenance, and network devices being part of the first local areanetwork 110 a, such as the smart machine 111 a or the laptop computer113 a. The communicator 141 a acts as a secure medium for industry andIoT gateways. In an embodiment, the communicator 141 of the edge server140 a is capable of performing at least some level of big data analysisand/or predictive maintenance functions locally. As the edge server 140a is located at the edge of the wide area network 180, implementing somelocal big data analysis and predictive maintenance functionality in thecommunicator 141 is advantageous, in particular, for real time orsecurity applications. Thus, the communicator 141 a is furtherconfigured to store and process data provided by the network devices 111a, 113 a of the first local area network 110 a using big data algorithmslocally.

The interlinker 143 a of the edge server 140 a is configured tointerlink the first local area network 110 a, for instance, with thesecond local area network 110 b. To this end, in an embodiment, theinterlinker 143 a is configured to interact with a correspondinginterlinker of the edge server 140 b associated with the second localarea network 110 b. In an embodiment, the interlinker 143 a of the edgeserver 140 a (possibly together with the corresponding interlinker ofthe edge sever 140 b) can provide secure real-time communicationsbetween the first local area network 110 a and the second local areanetwork 110 b and the respective devices associated therewith.

FIG. 2 illustrates the interlinking capabilities of a plurality of edgeservers 140 a-h according to an embodiment, wherein the plurality ofedge servers 140 a-h are associated with different local area networks110 a-e. In the exemplary scenario shown in FIG. 2, these differentlocal area networks 110 a-e are associated with such entities as amaterial provider, IoT verticals, logistic services and/or an industrialfactory. Thus, the edge server 140 a and its interlinker 143 a canaddress the problem that many companies involved in a particular valuechain today, such as materials providers, logistics providers, are notfully integrated and interlinked with each other or with manufacturingcompanies. Moreover, the edge server 140 a and its interlinker 143 a canmeet the strong demand for automated solutions to federate cloud networkresources and processes, and to derive the integrated management cloudlayer that enables an efficient and secure deployment of resources andservices independent of their location across distributedinfrastructures. For instance, the edge server 140 a and its interlinker143 a make it possible to specify a customized product to bemanufactured in specific quantities to participants within a FederatedIndustry Cloud in order to obtain the most suitable and best quotation.In an embodiment, such a Federated Industry Cloud implemented with thehelp of the plurality of edge servers 140 a-h can provide for thefollowing advantages: a single point of interconnection for all industryplayers, neutral service brokering and clearing, Federal Serviceaggregation and management, multitenant identity and access management,secure data exposure and exchange and/or centralized SLA(service-level-agreement) and Policy control.

As already mentioned above, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the edgeserver 140 a further comprises a network functions virtualizer (NFV) 145a. In an embodiment, the NF virtualizer 145 a is configured to providevirtual network functions, for instance, a virtual machine, in the firstlocal area network 110 a. In an embodiment, the NF virtualizer 145 a isconfigured to provide any virtual network functions in response to thetriggering of a “one-click” service creation function provided by a userinterface of the edge server 140 a, which will be described in moredetail further below in the context of FIG. 6. The advantage of a “oneclick” service creation function is the possibility of providing a fastTime-to-Market deployment desired by industry and IoT verticals.

Moreover, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the edge server 140 afurther comprises a SDN (software-defined networking) controller 147 a.In an embodiment, the SDN controller 147 a can be implemented to becontrolled by a centralized SDN controller that is located in the widearea network 180. In other words, in an embodiment, the SDN controller147 a can act as a slave towards the centralized SDN controller locatedin the backend system. In an embodiment, however, the SDN controller 147a of the edge server 140 a can be configured to take over the SDNcontrol of the first local area network 110 a and the devices thereof.For instance, in case the centralized SDN controller located in thebackend system 180 cannot reach, for instance, one or more gateways inthe first local area network 110 a, the SDN controller 147 a of the edgeserver 140 a is configured to take over and control the gateways thatare mapped to the edge server 140 a. In turn, the centralized SDNcontroller located in the backend system 180 can extract trafficconfiguration files from the edge server 140 a and can update themaccordingly.

In the following, further implementation forms, embodiments and aspectsof the edge server 140 a as well as the communication network 100 andits components will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram illustrating the hardware and softwarearchitecture of the edge server according to a possible embodiment. Asalready described above, the edge server 140 a is configured tocommunicate in the northbound direction with applications and/orservices, such as the control systems and management systems shown inFIG. 3, which can be provided by an application server 181 of the widearea network 180. In an embodiment, the application server 181 canprovide applications such as predictive maintenance, lifecyclemanagement, event management, remote inspection and the like. In anembodiment, this northbound communication can be based on an applicationprogramming interface (API) implemented on, for instance, theapplication server 181. For both the communication in the northbound aswell as in the southbound direction, i.e. with the network devices ofthe first local area network 110 a, the edge server 140 can comprise aplurality of suitable interface cards 141, for instance, Ethernet cards.

The edge server 140 a shown in FIG. 3 comprises a hardware platform 143,including a CPU, a memory and a data storage in form of a solid statedrive. The hardware platform 143 is configured to execute an operatingsystem 145, such as Linux, Windows or a virtual machine. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 3 the following module are implemented on topof the operating system platform 145: a protocols bridging module 147, aprotocols servers module 149 and an open platform module 148. Inparallel thereto, a module 146 for security protocols and forwardingrules is implemented on top of the hardware platform 143. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 3 the protocols bridging module 147 comprises apolicy controller, an FTP server, a controller head-end, a protocolcontrol/agent and an in memory data submodule. In the embodiment shownin FIG. 3 the protocols servers module 149 comprises a MQTT (messagequeue telemetry transport) server, an OPC-UA (open platformcommunications—unified architecture) server and an AMQP (advancedmessage queuing protocol) server. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 theopen platform module 148 comprises a web server, a TSN (time-sensitivenetworking) submodule, a SDN controller socket as well as databases.

In an embodiment, the edge server 140 a is configured to communicatewith the network devices of the first local area network 110 a via abridge or gateway. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 the edge server 140a is configured to communication the network devices of the first localarea network 110 a via an OPC-UA (open platform communications—unifiedarchitecture) gateway 150, which can be implemented in hardware and/orsoftware. In an embodiment, the gateway 150 is configured tocommunication with the network devices of the first local area network110 a by means of different bus systems, such as Profibus, Profinet,Fieldbus, Modbus, DeviceNet, Ethernet/IP or the like. A similarembodiment is shown in FIG. 5.

Applying OPC-UA can integrate the I/O products of third-partydevices/sensors of the first local area network 110 a via the gateway150 and the edge server 140 a to import the data to appropriate entitieslocated in the backend system 180, such as industrial monitoringsystems, databases for backend management, interoperability and securityservices of the industrial and IoT systems.

In an embodiment, the gateway 150 can act as an client/agent towards oneor more agents, and can forward request information to a cloud-basedgateway 185 using Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP)/MessageQueuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocols. Using MQTT/AMQPcommunication can bridge the system with the IoT to meet the currentindustrial and IoT market requirements.

Communication from the cloud back to the network devices of the firstlocal area network 110 a can be safely transported using messages storedin the gateway 150. This broker model provides a communication channelthat is as secure as any Virtual Private Network (VPN) but without theexisting complexity of today networks. Using industrial protocols fromthe device to the cloud provides a reliable and secure platform forindustrial applications based on openness and unified open applicationprogramming interface (API).

As already described above, in an embodiment the edge server 140 a cancomprise a NF virtualizer 145 a and/or a SDN controller 147 a. In anembodiment, the NF virtualizer 145 a is configured to interact with a“One-Click” service creation function, which could be implemented in thebackend system 180. The “One-Click” service creation function isconfigured to create batches of virtual network functional elements andmapping them back to appropriate application servers of the backendsystem 180. In an embodiment, the edge server 140 a can comprise anembedded NFV/SDN controller socket that is configured to communicatewith a centralized “One-Click” service creation server of the backendsystem 180. In an embodiment, the edge server 140 a is configured to becontrolled by the centralized “One-Click” service creation serverlocated in the backend system 180. In an embodiment, the centralized“One-Click” service creation server can update the security rules and/orpolicies for the network devices, such as smart sensors or smartmachines, of the first local area network 110 a associated with the edgeserver 140 a and provide a mapping for the desired cloud basedapplications, such as predictive maintenance applications and services,as is illustrated in FIG. 6. In an embodiment, the edge server 140 a canbe configured to provide a graphical web interface to support users toconfigure and define the rules and policies for individual or sets ofdevices of the first local area network 110 a associated with the edgeserver 140 a.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the edge servers 140 a and 140 bimplemented in a smart city environment comprising wired and wirelesslocal area networks. In this embodiment the edge servers 104 a and 140 bare configured to control and unify the communication between aplurality of smart city sensors and devices and their applications. Inan embodiment the edge servers 140 a and 140 b can provide for thefollowing functionalities and/or advantages within smart city verticals:traffic optimization, cost savings, edge data computing, gatewayarea/zone managements. In an embodiment, the edge servers 140 a and 140b are configured to provide respective edge firewalls for defining GWsAreas/Zones DMZ (demilitarized zone).

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the edge servers 140 a and 140 bimplemented in a scenario, where the first local area network 110 a is aLAN within a factory comprising a first and a second production line andwherein the second local area network 110 b is a LAN in the fieldsupported by mobile communications network. Thus, the edge server 140 ashown in FIG. 8 can be used at the edge of the factory LAN 110 a as asingle point of communication with other factories, material providers,logistic services, other IoT Verticals as well as smart devices, such assensors, operating in the field.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram illustrating steps of a method 900 ofoperating the edge server 140 a according to an embodiment. The method900 comprises a step 901 a of allowing communication between the networkdevices 111 a, 113 a connected to the first local area network 110 a andthe network devices 181, 183 connected to the wide area network 180including storing and processing data provided by the network devices111 a, 113 a of the first local area network 110 a using big dataalgorithms by the edge server 140 a locally. The method 900 comprises afurther step 901 b of allowing communication between the network devices111 a, 113 a connected to the first local area network 110 a and thenetwork devices 111 b connected to the second local area network 110 bsupported by the edge server 140 b, wherein the edge server 140 b isarranged at the edge between the second local area network 110 b and thewide area network 180.

Embodiments of the invention can provide for the following advantages.

The edge server 140 a can reduce the high costs of backhaul bandwidth.Currently using a cloud only based approach works well for single sensorsystems in multiple different locations, where there are low data ratesand where there are existing communication capabilities. However, wherehigher data rates are required e.g. video streaming, it is not efficientor cost effective to directly backhaul from either the network devicesor from the gateways. The edge server 140 a can act as an additionalaggregation point to collect data traffic. One study has shown that IoTtraffic, which may have to be transported long distance nationally orinternationally, can be reduced by 95% by using the edge server 140 a,which will lead to much reduced costs. The longer the distance back tothe cloud, the greater are the cost savings.

The edge server 140 a can give higher availability and add moreresilience to Industrial and IoT local area networks: In the event of acommunications outage towards the cloud the edge server 140 a can workautonomously, as required to perform local data processing andautomation of the networks. The edge server 140 a can act as data backupto another in case of failure.

The edge server 140 a has the capability to do a lot of the dataprocessing and analytics locally that is conventionally done back in thecloud. However, this current approach can result in too high latency,which will not be suitable for some latency sensitive applications,where quick response times and decisions need to be made in real time.Devices and sensors will be able to interact locally and exchangeinformation to enable smarter applications and services.

With the edge server 140 a policies, configurations and parameters canbe tested, controlled and adjusted on a more local level. Gateways canbe setup and controlled in a more agile manner using Software DefinedNetworks (SDN) technology utilized by the edge server 140 a. The edgeserver 140 a can manage gateways through southbound interfaces, deliverapplications and VMs to gateways, and obtain information about thegateways and attached network devices.

The edge server 140 a can also provide interfaces to multiple cloudsthat will enable new possibilities for interaction withapplications/data stored in other clouds.

The edge server 140 a can provide industrial interlinking, promoteprotocol interoperability, act as a secure gatekeeper, perform real-timeedge data analytics and processing.

The advantages for managing, for instance, smart sensors using the edgeserver 140 a in combination with cloud technologies are the following: aunified communication, as the edge server 140 a acts as a gate keeperand is the only way that the smart sensor data can pass to higherapplications that reside in the cloud; much lower bandwidthrequirements; significantly lower overall costs; greater availabilityfrom local automation and local autonomy; better advanced real-timefunctionality from integration of local sensors and smart sensors;easier communication with multiple clouds (e.g., comparison ofinterfaces using a different Software as a Services (SaaS) cloud(s));ability to use a lower-cost consumer commodity ecosystem with sensorsbased on current consumer mobile management of sensors; earlier adoptionof new sensors from the consumer mobile commodity ecosystem; earlieradoption of new sensors with much higher data rates; less complex andreal-time local management of sensors (resetting, managing drift, etc.);less complex ability to test and manage local sensors; higher IoTfunctionality based on lower latencies; managing the role and policiesfor a sensors or smart sensors; using the latest traffic engineeringtechnology such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) to utilize themaximum benefits of SDN technology, by centrally configuring andmanaging all Internet of Things (IoT) Gateways (GW's) that are connectedto the edge server 140 a.

While a particular feature or aspect of the disclosure may have beendisclosed with respect to only one of several implementations orembodiments, such feature or aspect may be combined with one or moreother features or aspects of the other implementations or embodiments asmay be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “include”, “have”, “with”, orother variants thereof are used in either the detailed description orthe claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similarto the term “comprise”. Also, the terms “exemplary”, “for example” and“e.g.” are merely meant as an example, rather than the best or optimal.The terms “coupled” and “connected”, along with derivatives may havebeen used. It should be understood that these terms may have been usedto indicate that two elements cooperate or interact with each otherregardless whether they are in direct physical or electrical contact, orthey are not in direct contact with each other.

Although specific aspects have been illustrated and described herein, itwill be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a varietyof alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted forthe specific aspects shown and described without departing from thescope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to coverany adaptations or variations of the specific aspects discussed herein.

Although the elements in the following claims are recited in aparticular sequence with corresponding labeling, unless the claimrecitations otherwise imply a particular sequence for implementing someor all of those elements, those elements are not necessarily intended tobe limited to being implemented in that particular sequence.

Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent tothose skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. Of course,those skilled in the art readily recognize that there are numerousapplications of the invention beyond those described herein. While thepresent invention has been described with reference to one or moreparticular embodiments, those skilled in the art recognize that manychanges may be made thereto without departing from the scope of thepresent invention. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims and their equivalents, the invention may bepracticed otherwise than as specifically described herein.

1. An edge server arranged at an edge between a first local area networkand a wide area network, the edge server comprising: a communicatorconfigured to communicate between the first local area network and thewide area network, wherein the communicator is further configured toprocess data provided by the first local area network; an interlinkerconfigured to communicate with another interlinker in another edgeserver, wherein the another edge server is arranged at an edge between asecond local area network and the wide area network; and a networkfunctions virtualizer configured to provide virtualized networkfunctions to the first local area network.
 2. The edge server of claim1, wherein the communicator is further configured to forward requestinformation from a gateway and smart device in the first local areanetwork to a cloud-based gateway in the wide area network.
 3. The edgeserver of claim 2, wherein the communicator is configured to forward therequest information to the cloud-based gateway on a basis of at leastone of Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) or Message QueuingTelemetry Transport (MQTT) protocols.
 4. The edge server of claim 1,wherein the interlinker is configured to allow secure communicationbetween the first local area network and the second local area network.5. The edge server of claim 1, wherein the network functions virtualizeris configured to provide virtualized network functions in response to atrigger of a service creation function provided by a graphical userinterface.
 6. The edge server of claim 1, wherein the edge serverfurther comprises a software defined networking (SDN) controllerconfigured to provide SDN functions to the first local area network. 7.The edge server of claim 6, wherein the SDN controller is configured tomanage at least one gateway of the first local area network.
 8. The edgeserver of claim 7, wherein the SDN controller is configured to managethe at least one gateway of the first local area network in case the atleast one gateway cannot be controlled by a SDN controller of the widearea network.
 9. The edge server of claim 1, wherein the edge server isconfigured to communicate with the first local area network via agateway.
 10. The edge server of claim 9, wherein the gateway is an openplatform communications—unified architecture (OPC-UA) compliant gateway.11. The edge server of claim 1, wherein the edge server is configured toprovide a graphical user interface for allowing a user to interact withthe edge server.
 12. A method for communicating between a first localarea network, a wide area network and a second local area network, themethod comprising: processing, by an edge server arranged at an edgebetween the first local area network and the wide area network, dataprovided by the first local area network; communicating, by the edgeserver, with another edge server arranged at an edge between the secondlocal area network and the wide area network; and providing, by the edgeserver, virtualized network functions to the first local area network.13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: communicating, by theedge server, with the another edge server in a secure manner.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising: providing, by the edge server,virtualized network functions to the first local area network inresponse to a trigger of a service creation function provided by agraphical user interface.
 15. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: providing, by the edge server, software defined networking(SDN) functions to the first local area network.
 16. An edge serverarranged at an edge between a first local area network and a wide areanetwork, the edge server comprising: one or more processors; and one ormore memories coupled to the one or more processor and storinginstructions for execution by the one or more processors to: processdata provided by the first local area network; communicate with anotheredge server arranged at an edge between a second local area network andthe wide area network; and process virtualized network functions to thefirst local area network.
 17. The edge server of claim 16, wherein theone or more memories stores the instructions for execution by the one ormore processors further to: communicate with the another edge server ina secure manner.
 18. The edge server of claim 16, wherein the one ormore memories stores the instructions for execution by the one or moreprocessors further to: provide virtualized network functions to thefirst local area network in response to a trigger of a service creationfunction provided by a graphical user interface.
 19. The edge server ofclaim 16, wherein the one or more memories stores the instructions forexecution by the one or more processors further to: provide softwaredefined networking (SDN) functions to the first local area network.